


Autumnal Reflections

by KyoukaiKanata



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, M/M, Plans For The Future, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28756794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyoukaiKanata/pseuds/KyoukaiKanata
Summary: There were many things Pierre could safely say he thought he would be doing on a cold, wet autumn afternoon, but he had never expected one of them to be meeting Alex Albon at a small coffee shop tucked away in the back streets of Milton Keynes.Honestly the things Max Verstappen could make him do.Or Alex needs someone who can understand Red Bull and just what they can do when he is on the verge of breaking. Max sends Pierre. Sometimes the art of re-building comes in many forms.
Relationships: Alexander Albon/Pierre Gasly
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Autumnal Reflections

**Author's Note:**

> So since I turned 31 today I decided to upload three pieces of writing I've had nearly completed for a while. 
> 
> This one is the most random thing I have written for some time, but was an idea that wouldn't leave and I've decided just to go for it and post it.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

There were many things Pierre could safely say he thought he would be doing on a cold, wet autumn afternoon only a few hours after being announced for AlphaTauri for next season, but he had never expected one of them to be meeting Alex Albon at a small coffee shop tucked away in the back streets of Milton Keynes.

Whilst, despite what many thought, he had no hard feelings against Alex, they never really spoke other than the occasional conversation on race weekends.

In fact, he was only here at all because Max had caught him as he left the Red Bull headquarters with Franz after the official confirmation meeting.

****************************************

“Pierre!”

Pierre glanced up at the call of his name, pausing mid conversation with Franz about the various changes Honda were planning to make to the engine next year, and their set up of the car overall, as Max strode towards him.

“Max?”

Reaching them, Max nodded at Franz before turning his attention to the Frenchman next to him.

“Can I talk to you a minute mate?”

“Yeah sure, what’s up?” Pierre said, glancing at Franz and, at his small smile and nod, following Max as he gestured in a come hither motion and grabbed the side of his shirt sleeve, pulling him over to the side of the room until they were shielded from immediate view behind some decorative foliage.

“I need a favour.”

Pierre frowned; eyes quizzical as Max began glancing around slightly but didn’t elaborate on his comment.

“What do you need Max? And who are you looking for?”

“Relax,” Max rolled his eyes, “I’m just checking Helmut and Christian aren’t nearby. They don’t need any more ammunition than what they’ve already got. Anyway-” Max looked at him, “Can you talk to Alex?”

“What?” Pierre frowned, completely confused.

Max sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “Alex, Pierre. Can you talk to Alex?”

“What about Alex?” Pierre tilted his head slightly, confused, “Why do I need to talk to him?”

“Because you can help him of course,” Max sighed.

“Why would I help him? And what am I helping him with?”

“Keeping his seat, or at least help him get some confidence back,” Max said.

“What?!” Pierre’s eyes widened and he looked up at Max with a completely confused expression on his face.

“Max given I lost mine to him I’m probably not the best person to ask.”

“No, but you’re the one who’ll understand him the best.”

Max looked at Pierre and he was taken aback slightly at the serious expression on his face. It almost looked like worry, but this was Max. He never worried about anyone or anything. Hell, sky sports had even nicknamed him the teammate destroyer.

He was untouchable.

Right?

“Look Red Bull is breaking Alex. Management know it, the media know it, the drivers know it. Fucking hell at this point the whole world knows it, but we can’t help him.”

“And you think I can?” Pierre rolled his eyes, “In case you’ve forgotten Max the entire reason he’s in the seat was due to me failing last year.”

“Precisely why it’s gotta be you then. You can relate,” Max smirked, clapping his hand on Pierre’s shoulder and squeezing softly before he turned and walked off.

****************************************

Two minutes later the text came through.

“I do care you know. I’m not completely like the terminator yet. I’ve sent him to the local. Meet him at 14.00.”

Pierre couldn’t help the quiet chuckle that escaped at the terminator comment. It was the nickname he had come up with after last year. After all, Max did seem to terminate all the other drivers in his path, regardless of if they were teammates or not. Max had hated it at first, but slowly as they begun talking more after he had left the team and stress and tension was no longer there, it had turned into a joke between them.

He may like to believe he had no heart, but, Pierre thought as he glanced out the window, Max did secretly care more than he would ever admit. He just wasn’t sure what good he would be able to do for Alex, but at least it was a start. It was something he had never had after all.

The bell above the door chimed as Pierre opened it and stepped out from the torrent outside. A large gust of wind almost caught the door out of his fingers, before cursing under his breathe he managed to turn and wrestle the door closed behind him.

As the red door slotted firmly closed, Pierre turned as tugged his sodden wet hood of his head and tucked the loose ends of his scarf back into his jacket, flinching as the wet strands made contact with his bare skin.

God, he hated the cold.

Give him somewhere warm and sunny any day.

Running a hand through his damp hair and making sure the mask was on his face firmly, he moved into the café, and glancing around he finally spied Alex in the back corner. A tall, slender dark shadow squinting at something on his phone as he swirled the last dregs of something in his cup.

Moving to the counter Pierre nodded at the dark-haired barista behind the counter.

“Spiced pumpkin latte please and a refill of whatever he’s having,” Pierre gestured towards Alex.

“£7.60 please, he with you?” the man said, nodding behind him towards Alex as Pierre handed over the change.

“Yeah he’s having a rough day.”

“I can tell. Look I can’t give you those for free, but do you guys want a free pastry or something?”

“Um,” Pierre glanced over at Alex who was still engrossed in his phone. Pierre wondered why he hadn’t noticed him, but as he looked closer he could see the thin wires of Alex’s headphones.

“Just one of the croissants then please,” Pierre nodded at the pastries on the far side of the counter. As much as one each would probably be a better option, Pyry would kill him if he found out, and god knows what Alex’s trainer would do to him.

The barista added the plate to the tray of drinks and Pierre smiled behind the mask, “Thanks you sure you don’t want anything for it?”

“Nah don’t worry about it mate.”

Smiling behind his mask at the barista, ‘Tom’ if his name tag was to go by, Pierre nodded in thanks, and picked up the tray, moving over towards Alex, making him jump as he suddenly placed the tray down on the table in front of him.

Alex’s head shot up, brown eyes startled from whatever he had been looking at on his phone.

“Here,” Pierre said, pushing the croissant towards him, and shoving the tray on the spare table next to them as he put the drink in front of him as well, “You look like you need them.”

“Thanks. I guess?” Alex’s head tilted slightly to the side confusion filling him at the sight of the AlphaTauri driver in front of him.

Pierre sat down and pulled the mask off, taking a sip of his drink.

“Pierre.”

Pierre glanced up as Alex removed his own mask and pulled the earphones out of his ears.

“What are you doing here?” Alex murmured, a confused expression on his face.

“What do you mean?” Pierre asked frowning.

“Well,” Alex’s eyes narrowed slightly, confusion clear in his eyes, “Why are you here? With me?”

Pierre blinked, once, twice, “I don’t understand?”

Alex looked equally as confused at his answer.

“Max sent me here. He said you knew about it?”

“Max sent you? Why?”

Alex’s answer was so faint Pierre barely heard it at first over the general hustle and bustle of people around them, but even though he couldn’t hear him properly, that didn’t mean he could miss the reaction his statement caused.

Alex seemed to almost curl in on himself, his eyes lowering, any confidence he once hand seemed to have been shattered, and Pierre couldn’t help the sheer ache that he felt for him. Red Bull were heartless, and it seemed they hadn’t just pushed Alex down, they had almost destroyed the quiet, confident young man that they had once taken in.

For a few moments, there was silence, before Pierre stood up, and moved around the side of the table. Alex startled slightly at the movement, almost dull brown orbs meeting his own.

But Pierre knew what Alex needed, and Max was wrong. Alex didn’t need words, he didn’t Pierre trying to help him save a seat they both knew in reality he had already lost. Alex needed more than empty words. He needed what Pierre had needed when he had been in the same state last year.

Comfort.

Love.

Security.

And someone to be there.

Someone who may not be able to take the pain away but would at least be able to relate to it. To show that for the current reality seemed like hell, there was a life, there was a future beyond it.

Pierre had found that in the brotherly relationship he had with Dany.

Perhaps he could be that for Alex now. Perhaps he could more than that for Alex now.

Crouching slightly, he slipped his arms around Alex’s shoulders and hugged him gently, his blonde-brown hair brushing Alex’s neck as he leant over him.

Alex immediately tensed, his eyes widening in shock.

“What are you doing?” he whispered, his voice trembling slightly as he tried to school his face into an outward shell of no emotion.

“Giving you what you need.”

Brown eyes met blue as Alex turned his head slightly.

Pierre looked at Alex and knew what he was looking at, and he hated it. Alex had never deserved to look like this. It was déjà vu to himself last year. The clear lines of exhaustion and stress that lingered over his face. The lost, dead look in his eyes. The way that, whilst Alex was normally slender, as were most drivers, seemed even thinner than usual. An absolute gaunt look that Pierre had no doubt was from the lack of eating due to the repeated effects of the Red Bull environment.

He had never felt anger towards Alex, even when Red Bull had broken their promise to him.

Secretly he had wished him the best.

Honestly, he had wanted him to do to well. He had believed out of all of them, if anyone could be on Max’s level, it would be Alex. Pierre had never wanted to see the look in Alex’s eyes that was there now.

Despair.

Helplessness.

Fear.

Alex wasn’t weak. He was one of the strongest drivers Pierre knew in their generation. But psychological torture doesn’t just leave you. He knows that all too well.

“Come on,” he nodded at the food and drinks as he pulled back, “Let’s finish these and then we can go for a walk if you want?”

Alex’s grateful look said enough. He didn’t want to talk about it here and he could understand that, he really could. There had been enough public scrutiny already. 

****************************************

It was a while later that they finally spoke. Finishing the last of their drinks, and the last bite of croissant Alex offered, Pierre stood, shrugging his coat and mask back on as Alex waited. Placing a tip in the jar on the side as they left, Pierre took Alex’s hand and began to lead him through the busy streets.

Alex had barely said anything after their initial hug in the café, but as they walked, Pierre felt his hand tighten around his and squeezed back re-assuringly. It only took a few minutes before they reached the nearby park and Pierre pulled Alex over to the far corner where some trees lined the edge and there were few people around.

Alex was silent and reflective as they stopped and stood underneath the trees, the last few leaves swirling around their feet. Stepping forward Pierre pressed against Alex, his eyes gentle and understanding. Opening his arms again he reached up and pulled Alex into another soft hug, feeling Alex tense at first before relaxing into him.

“It’s okay. You can let go if you want. Trust me, it helps.”

For a moment Alex froze, before a shudder ran through him and he crumpled, quiet sobs escaping him as he buried his face into Pierre’s shoulder. The emotions of his own season from hell flooding uncontrollably out of him.

It shouldn’t have been Pierre comforting him, but somehow, it also felt so right. No one else but Pierre could truly understand it. 

The anger, and the heartache. 

Running a hand through his hair, Pierre let him cry.

“You know Alex, you can always rebuild. If your time at Red Bull ends, that doesn’t mean you can’t start anew. Sometimes it for the best.”

Pulling back, Alex sniffed and wiped his eyes dry, blinking heavily to try and prevent further tears escaping, “You would say that.”

Pierre reached up gently pulling Alex’s mask down, and he leant in, blue orbs flashing back and forth over Alex’s face for any sign that he didn’t want this. Alex leant into him slightly, and Pierre smiled, leaning up the last couple of inches and kissing him lightly.

Alex hummed contently, tracing his fingers over the side of Pierre’s jaw. The softness of the kiss and the strength of Pierre’s reassurance, drowning out the screaming demons of Helmut and Christian in his head.

Pulling back Pierre murmured, “You’ll be okay. You’ll find yourself again, I promise.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know you. We all know you.”

“Even if I’m broken,” Alex murmured against his lips as the shorter Frenchman proceeded to protectively wrap himself around him like an octopus.

“I’ll let you onto a secret Alex, we’re all broken. Red Bull breaks. All we can do is rebuild.”

“Pierre?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you rebuild with me?”

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always kudos and comments are greatly appreciated 💙💙
> 
> Feel free to come and talk to me on Tumblr at kyoukai-kanata (http://kyoukai-kanata.tumblr.com)


End file.
